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After retracing her memories for a while, she vaguely recalled Go Seok-hyun washing her. His touch had been so comforting that she hadn't even thought to say she would do it herself. He must not have had any experience washing someone else, yet he had been remarkably skilled.
You'll be hungry, so order some room service when you wake up.
As she saw the message from Go Seok-hyun on her phone, her stomach let out a loud growl. Considering she couldn't remember the last time she had eaten, it was only natural. She felt a hunger so intense that the phrase "skin clinging to bone" felt literal.
Seeing that he had sent a message, it seemed Seok-hyun had left on his own. Hee-jin roughly combed through her messy hair with her hands—the result of falling asleep without resisting—and picked up the menu.
There was soup, but for some reason, something else caught her eye. Seaweed soup. Once she saw it, no other menu items mattered. After ordering room service, Hee-jin tapped through her phone to check her flight ticket. While counting the remaining days, the name of the airport caught her eye.
“…….”
Chicago O'Hare International Airport. After scanning those words several times, she stepped off the bed. As she stood up, her legs trembled so much that she nearly fell. She tapped and rubbed her stiff legs with her fists.
After a quick wash, Hee-jin picked up her violin. Because the violin resonated louder than expected, she couldn't play it in the hotel. Thus, she took the position with just the violin, without the bow.
It was a practice method of pressing the fingerboard while imagining the music and holding a virtual bow. Because she played by imagining it bar by bar, it helped her gain a deeper understanding of the music's flow and structure.
Following her left hand as it moved slowly across the fingerboard, the music flowing through her mind was sharper than ever, as if reflecting her confused heart.
✾ ✾ ✾
“Busan?”
For VONA, Busan was a candidate site for a second offline store. Since the select shop run by the headquarters had successfully established itself, there had been talk of creating a select shop inside a department store in Haeundae. However, no concrete plans or schedules had been set yet, but an order had come down from the top to immediately form a dedicated team to negotiate with the department store.
Yuna wanted to deny reality upon reading that she was to step away from her current duties and take charge of the Busan project. The reason Go Seok-hyun was doing this was obvious.
“Go Seok-hyun!”
As she stormed into the President's office with a shout, Seok-hyun, who was sitting at his desk reviewing documents, frowned deeply. His gaze shifted toward the door Yuna had flung open. No matter how close they were as friends, this attitude was unacceptable in the office.
“What is this lack of manners? Close the door.”
Startled by that sharp gaze, Yuna shut her mouth and went back to close the door. Yet, her anger grew even more at Go Seok-hyun's cold demeanor. Standing face-to-face across the desk, she looked down at him with a haughty gaze.
“Don't tell me you're sending me to Busan just because I said a few words to that woman?”
Normally, this would be a task she would have approached with enthusiasm, but now it was practically a demotion. The timing was the issue. To anyone, it looked like he was punishing her for what she had done to Yoo Hee-jin.
“How... how can you do this to me?”
Seok-hyun took off the glasses he only wore while working and lightly rubbed the bridge of his nose. Yuna's face flushed even redder at the gesture that suggested she was being tiresome. When he moved his hand, his face was fully revealed, and he did indeed look a bit tired.
“What exactly did I do? I simply gave an opportunity to the person who first proposed the Busan project.”
Despite his neat appearance, the shadows around his eyes and his slightly bloodshot pupils created a decadent atmosphere. Yuna scolded herself internally for being captivated by his face even at a moment like this, which only made her angrier.
“Stop pretending you don't know! That's not what this is about.”
The expression on his face, pretending he didn't know what she was talking about, was loathsome. Rather than an intention to provoke her anger, it meant he didn't even intend to engage with her words. Yuna could tell exactly what he was thinking and what his intention was with just a single word. The years she had spent thinking about and analyzing Go Seok-hyun since falling for him at first sight made that possible.
“As you said, it's something I've just tolerated until now. You've benefited from me going around calling her my fiancée. You stayed quiet all this time, and now you're doing this? You're going to cast aside the person who knows you best and is most helpful to you?”
Yuna let out a sigh, roughly brushing back her hair. The necklace clinging to her neck felt unbearably irritating today. A surge of annoyance hit her, and she ripped it off, threw it away, and looked at Go Seok-hyun. He remained silent, as if he had no intention of dealing with her.
“If I say I won't go, what, are you going to fire me?”
The corners of her lips curled up in a bitter smile. She felt like a fish wounded after being caught on a hook. Her eyes grew hot and her vision blurred, but Yuna strained her eyes to keep from crying.
“You know me best.”
Seok-hyun spoke slowly. Yuna, who had been blinking repeatedly, frowned deeper and glared at him as he rose from his seat.
“If you're so proud of knowing me well, you should also know that you crossed the line this time. Why did you act so presumptuously, Yuna?”
Seok-hyun picked up the necklace Yuna had thrown. Following Hong Yuna's taste for extravagance, the pendant was very large and flashy. However, without even glancing at it, he threw it straight into the trash can. Yuna's expression, which had softened thinking he was picking it up for her, distorted further. It made her feel as if she herself had been thrown into the trash.
“Was I wrong? Did it make you feel that bad that I said someone without skill doesn't know their place? Why, did she cry on the bed and ask me to punish her?”
Seok-hyun, who was returning to his seat as if his business was finished, stopped in his tracks at that thought. Then, as if lost in thought, he rubbed his chin for a moment. The sudden flash in his eyes made Yuna shudder.
That look clearly showed that far from being offended by her words, he was actually imagining it. The image of Yoo Hee-jin begging him to punish her.
Seok-hyun's lips slowly curled upward. Because Yuna had observed and watched Go Seok-hyun more diligently than anyone for a long time, she could recognize the meaning of that smile.
'It would have been nice if she had.'
It was a smile of regret that Yoo Hee-jin hadn't done so. Yuna hugged her arms, which were covered in goosebumps, and stepped back. He was a Go Seok-hyun she prided herself on knowing so well, but now he felt as strange as a stranger.
“You... what is it? Just what is Yoo Hee-jin to you...?”
On the day of his brother's formal meeting with the in-laws, Go Seok-hyun had described it as 'finding something I've waited for a long time.' She knew instinctively that the thing he had waited for was Yoo Hee-jin. But there was no way to know why he was so obsessed with her. What part of Yoo Hee-jin attracted him so much that he fell for her, and why was he treating her like a nuisance?
“What a shame.”
Seok-hyun, his voice now much softer, approached her. The voice that she had simply felt lacked warmth when they were 'friends' was now chilling enough to make her bones ache. He stopped just before their bodies touched and whispered in her ear.
“If she had, she would have been a bit more useful.”
✾ ✾ ✾
Seok-hyun took Hee-jin to a studio. The practice room Hee-jin had found and rented herself was no different from a prison. To think she had practiced in such a cramped room without a single complaint—she was truly the pinnacle of endurance.
The studio he had procured was a ten-minute walk from Seok-hyun's building. It was perfectly soundproofed and had large windows. The reason he chose this place was that VONA was visible through those windows.
Seok-hyun led Hee-jin, who was staring blankly as if overwhelmed by the scale of the practice room, to a grand piano.
“A piano accompanist will come to help you practice from now on. When you prepare for the competition, I'll also hire an orchestra.”
“An orchestra?”
“You have to perform a concerto if you make it to the final round, right? Is there anything better than getting a feel for a concerto in advance?”
“…….”
If she made it to the final round, she would have to perform the competition in harmony with the orchestra prepared by the organizers, so practicing in advance would be helpful.
Seok-hyun remembered Hee-jin's final round from a few years ago. The beginning was perfect, but at some point, the performance became unstable. It was a minute difference, but that difference split her fate. The expression on Yoo Hee-jin's face as she looked down at her violin after finishing the performance was memorable. Frozen eyes and trembling lips. That expression, a mix of shock and confusion, looked as if she had been betrayed.
Therefore, Seok-hyun intended to help her prepare more thoroughly so that such a thing would not happen again.
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